A screensaver is an application that replaces the image on a
screen when the screen is not in use. The screensaver application for
the GNOME Desktop is XScreenSaver. The following sections describe
how to set preferences for the XScreenSaver application and how to
modify the displays that are available for the screensaver.
9.6.1 Setting Screensaver Preferences
Default screensaver preferences are stored in the XScreenSaver
file, located in
/usr/X11R6/lib/X11/app-defaults/XScreenSaver.
To modify screensaver application preferences, users can use
the Screensaver preference tool. When a user modifies the
screensaver preferences, the preferences are stored in the home
directory of the user, in the
$HOME/.xscreensaver file.
For information on screensaver preferences, see the
GNOME Desktop User Guide
.
Users can also run the
/usr/X11R6/bin/xscreensaver-demo
command to open the XScreenSaver dialog.
To set default screensaver preferences for all users, modify
the XScreenSaver file. You can also use the XScreenSaver dialog to
create a $HOME/.xscreensaver
file, then copy the file to the location of the XScreenSaver file.
To restore the default settings for a user, delete the
$HOME/.xscreensaver file
from the home directory of the user. If no
$HOME/.xscreensaver file is
present, the default preferences in the XScreenSaver file are used.
HINT:The default display behavior of XScreenSaver is to display a
blank screen. The blank screen might confuse users. You might want
to change this default display behavior.
To activate changes to the screensaver preferences, use the
following command to reload screensaver preferences:
xscreensaver-command -restart
9.6.2 Modifying Screensaver Displays
The screensaver application allows users to select one or more
screensaver displays. A screensaver display is an application that
displays images on the screen of the user when the screen is not in
use. The screensaver displays are listed in the XScreenSaver file
and in the
$HOME/.xscreensaver file.
To add a new screensaver display, copy the executable file for
the display to the directory where the displays are located. Add the
command for the screensaver display to the XScreenSaver file or the
$HOME/.xscreensaver file.
Include any arguments that are required to run the screensaver
display on the whole screen, rather than in a window. For example,
you might want to include the -root option to display the
screensaver display on the whole screen.
To disable a screensaver display, add a Minus sign (-) to the
start of the command for the screensaver display in the preferences
file. The following excerpt from a
$HOME/.xscreensaver file
shows a disabled Qix (solid) screensaver display:
- “Qix (solid)” qix -root -solid -segments 100
